2004 Chevy Tahoe

[Joey G]

Want a little advice/input from you Tahoe owners.

I have the opportunity to buy a 2004 Tahoe. LT package, all the bells and whistles. 40,000 miles. Well maintained (I know the original (only) owner) and cared for. Basically in flawless shape inside and out.

Are you happy with your Tahoe? Pros & Cons? What kind of MPG can I expect in town and Hwy.

I am in CA. The price is $20,000. Do you think it is a good deal?

Thanks for the help.

[esbotto]

Go here www.kbb.com and here www.edmunds.com. Put in as much info as you can. I like Edmunds as it gives you the true market value.

[Vegemite_luva]

Want a little advice/input from you Tahoe owners.

I have the opportunity to buy a 2004 Tahoe. LT package, all the bells and whistles. 40,000 miles. Well maintained (I know the original (only) owner) and cared for. Basically in flawless shape inside and out.

Are you happy with your Tahoe? Pros & Cons? What kind of MPG can I expect in town and Hwy.

I am in CA. The price is $20,000. Do you think it is a good deal?

Thanks for the help.

I have a 2001 Tahoe with 80,000 miles and absolutely love it. It's never given me any real trouble except now some of the lights in the center console are starting to burn out, the turn signal clicker(sound only) sometimes activates, and an occasional rattle in the steering column(this is a known issue and is solved by packing some grease in a part in the steering column but does not affect functionality). I have a 5.3 liter engine and retuned the computer with a Hypertech reprogrammer so I can run regular grade gasoline instead of premium plus I have an AFE million mile airfilter. I get about 15-17mpg in the city and 19-22mpg on the highway(and these are not guesses I regularly monitor this ever since I got it). Definitely the Hypertech and free flowing airfilter helped the mpg averages. I also run full synthetic oils in everything and have it changed regularly including the axles and transfer case. My mpg averages are practically the same than my previous Ford Explorer with a V6 and similar upgrades but the ride and overall quality of the Tahoe is much better than the Explorer.

[pfunk]

We have a suburban (2003) and I had a 03 Dmax loaded up (same truck)

issues on both

Steering column (both were replaced underwarranty (under 10K miles)

Drivers window (wont open unless above 32 degrees because the felts collect water) and falls off track

Guage clusters

The burban is a z71 with 4:10 gears, mileage has been horrible with averages in the city at 11-13.something and highway at 13-17 (17 was last summer on the cruise control)

the slip yoke is another thing to be concerned about (clunking in gear) ours did it at 9K miles when we bought it last year.

Price sounds pretty good, we paid 26 for ours (2003 9K original miles, and they could have put it on the showroom floor)

[bdrushto]

We had either an '00 or '01 model with the 5.3 that was great. We pushed it hard for 140K before trading it in, and even then it still ran great. The gas mileage wasn't superb... about 19 on the Interstate and CC, maybe a tick less, and 14-15 in the city.

We had a few problems with it... the fuel pump went out, the power steering unit failed, and some minor serpentine belt issues, but other than that it was solid. And even those could be correlated with the model year, I'm not sure of the changes between '01-'04.

[pfunk]

main diferances was in the 03 model year, they went to moduals (instead of DZM switches that they went back to in the new body style). some had electrical gremlins (mostly cluster and thier is a recall for it)

they started tightening up the engine machining tolerances in 03 also ( I have heard of issues into 04, but pretty rare) start it up after a cold night (make sure you are the 1st) and listen for any tick other then the injectors (sounds like a lifter tap) and if it ticks and quiets down, run like the wind

[dirtflea]

Keep an eye on the rear brakes, if the calipers get hung up it will wear out the inside pads, ruin the rotors and the claipers. As already mentioned the guages will go crazy, the sterring column can have problems(a little grease cures the problem), and the rear yoke on the drive shaft will make noise. To be honest, this has been a good truck, GMC covered everything with exception to my last problem. The waterpump went out without warning at about 135,000 miles, the repair for the warped heads cost me just under $3000 bucks. I didn't drive the pick-up more than two miles from the point it started to get hot, I went directly to the mechanics shop. I guess that was about 1.9 milestoo far.

[bdrushto]

^^^Ah, yes. We also did have a problem with the rear brakes as well. New pads and a right rear rotor I believe had to be installed. And our '01 did have pretty severe valve tapping on startup, but I've yet to hear it at any time in my '04 Silverado with the 5.3.

[Vegemite_luva]

Keep an eye on the rear brakes, if the calipers get hung up it will wear out the inside pads, ruin the rotors and the claipers. As already mentioned the guages will go crazy, the sterring column can have problems(a little grease cures the problem), and the rear yoke on the drive shaft will make noise. To be honest, this has been a good truck, GMC covered everything with exception to my last problem. The waterpump went out without warning at about 135,000 miles, the repair for the warped heads cost me just under $3000 bucks. I didn't drive the pick-up more than two miles from the point it started to get hot, I went directly to the mechanics shop. I guess that was about 1.9 milestoo far.

Yes, I had the same issue with the rear brakes but it didn't happen until after my warranty ran out. I also kinda blamed myself as I was bad about having the brakes regularly checked and it also worked out for me anyway as when I found out I was upgrading my rotors to slotted and dimpled(not completely drilled all the way through, just a chamfered dimple). Braking is awesome and they look great but there is a very small annoying noise from the rotors due to the dimples.